Crumlin Bridge, Mill Road, Crumlin, Co Antrim

This is a late 18th-century bridge, retaining much of its original character, with a well-executed late 20th-century extension in a modern style. Together with a steel lattice girder railway viaduct, it forms an impressive and unique group.

The bridge is a five-arched masonry skew bridge, built around 1780, and carries the main road over the Crumlin River. It is constructed from random rubble basalt with roughly shaped voussoirs to the segmental arches. The spandrels are finished with lime mortar. The parapet projects slightly over the carriageway and has flat sandstone copings. At the north end, the parapet rises to meet the boundary wall of an adjacent former mill complex. On the west face, an extension has been added using angled piers with rubble stone cutwaters which resemble the original, but are positioned further out. This extension features two longitudinal beams supporting a flat concrete slab; the original arches are visible within the bays of the extension. Modern parapet railings are set between rectangular stone piers that rise from the cutwaters. The vaults of the original bridge have been roughly cement-grouted, exposing much of the stone. The roadway is flat, and the original parapet on the west side remains isolated, serving as a boundary between the vehicular roadway and a pedestrian pathway over the extension.

According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s, the bridge was built around 1780. The bridge stands on the northern edge of the village, surrounded by trees and bushes. A later railway viaduct of steel girder construction (reference HB20/15/030) oversails the bridge at an angle.

The bridge possesses industrial archaeological interest and exhibits notable qualities in proportions, spatial organisation, and structural system. While alterations have detracted slightly from the building, others have enhanced it. It also demonstrates local historical interest.